National Engineers' Week Futurecity Competition™

Bentley to Chair Leadership Council for
National Engineers Week Future City Competition

     The National Engineers Week Future City CompetitionTM has announced that Bentley Systems, Incorporated, will significantly increase its sponsorship for the engineering education program, now becoming the founding member and chair of Future City’s new Leadership Council.

     Supported by Bentley since 2001, the annual Future City Competition challenges enterprising seventh- and eighth-grade students to create futuristic cities, first as virtual computer models and then as physical models. Judges evaluate each city’s livability, creativity, and efficiency.

     This year, 33 regional competitions involved 30,000 students from 1,100 schools, up from 1,000 schools last year. Winning regional teams received expense-paid trips to Washington for the national finals on February 25.

     “ Future City inspires young people by letting them experience the important work engineers do to create a better world,” CEO Greg Bentley said. “It’s personally and professionally rewarding to see the drive and imagination these students apply to their projects. As an investment in students, we’re increasing our support and taking a leading role to help this program energize even more young people."

     I urge members of the engineering community to lend support as well, by volunteering to serve as the mentors who guide Future City contestants,” he said. For this year’s competition, some 7,500 engineers are donating more than 225,000 hours of service as mentors.

     “The Future City Competition gets young people excited about math and science, and helps them develop the skills for a rewarding career. As the engineers of tomorrow, these students will go on to envision and create an improved quality of life for everyone,” said Alan L. Boeckmann, Fluor Corporation CEO, Future City Competition judge, and 2004 National Engineers Week co-chair.

     Bentley is a leading provider of software for the lifecycle of the world’s infrastructure. In addition to its financial support, the company becomes the founding member and chair of the Future City Competition Leadership Council. “In our new role, we will be garnering support from other industry leaders, including our peer companies as well as professional organizations,” Greg Bentley said.

     The council will guide Future City as it expands to reach more students, incorporates its educational components into middle-school courses nationwide, and maximizes its benefits to participants and supporters. In 2005, the program will add six new regional competitions.

Founded in 1992, the not-for-profit competition has become one of America’s leading engineering education programs. Contestants create virtual cities using SimCity 3000 software, donated by Maxis, a division of Electronic Arts, of Walnut Creek, California. Each student team works with a teacher and a volunteer engineer mentor.

     For information on becoming a member of the Leadership Council, contact Carol Rieg, National Director, Future City Competition, at (877) 636-9578 or crieg@futurecity.org. For more information on the Future City Competition, visit www.futurecity.org.

     Bentley’s history of support for Future City includes significant financial contributions, software donations, and employee volunteer efforts. Since 2001, Bentley has hosted the national finals, held in Washington during National Engineers Week. Bentley also provided funding to 2004 regional competitions in Philadelphia and Phoenix, as part of the company’s School of the Future outreach. In this program, students design a futuristic, energy-efficient school while learning to use MicroStation®, the company’s flagship desktop product.

About Bentley
     Bentley Systems, Incorporated, provides software for the lifecycle of the world's infrastructure. The company's comprehensive portfolio for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets spans architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With 2003 revenues reaching $260 million, Bentley is the leading provider of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Design 500 and major owner-operators.

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